How Acupuncture Affects Exercise and Fitness

May 20, 2012

Acupuncture is an ancient art for healing various problems in the body. This involves the insertion of needles at various trigger points of the body. The needles actually cause a minor injury to the area so the body’s natural healing powers are summoned to the affected area. Through using this treatment, many find they can even exercise and become fit easier than by using other treatment methods.

Effective Treatment for Frozen Joints

For example, this one woman did not have full motion in one of her arms this was because of a frozen shoulder joint. She had this condition because of an injury that occurred years ago when she was young. Surgery had been recommended but she chose to use a different treatment, so she chose acupuncture along with chiropractic treatments, massage therapy and of course, exercise. With just a few treatments with needles inserted in at trigger points, she was able to move her arm more easily.

Speeds Healing with Injuries

Acupuncture can have very effective results in speeding up healing of injuries from sports and other activities. Resting an injury many times will make it feel better. However, acupuncture stimulates the body’s natural healing processes to decrease the time it takes an injury to heal.

Great Relief for Sore or Tense Muscles

Participating in physical activities can cause the muscles to ache. This makes exercise hard to do the next day. However, acupuncture works not only to relieve soreness, but also the tension in the muscles. This will make it easier to continue to work out.

Acupuncture Increases the Feeling of Well-Being

There is a trigger point located at the top of the head that lowers stress and increases the feeling of well-being. When a person is feeling calm and at peace, he/she can perform better in all parts of his/her life including physical activity.

Acupuncture Enhances Exercise

Researchers report the acupuncture increases a person’s capacity for exercise. One study had researchers using 25x30mm needles on the following acupoints:

GB34 (Yanglingquan)

St36 (Zusanli)

Lu1 (Zhongfu)

P6 (Neiguan)

UB17 (Geshu)

CV17 (Shangzhong)

CV4 (Guanyuan)

UB52 (Zhishi)

UB23 (Shenshu)

Moxibustion also was applied to points:

CV4

St36

UB52

UB23

The peak ventilation improved by 13% and the maximal aerobic capacity improved by 38% the researchers discovered. The conclusion of this research was that the capacity for exercise could be improved for a sedentary, healthy patient. This research was performed on a man of 30 years of age. He had a 1-hour treatment of acupuncture one time a day for a consecutive 10-day period of time. The subject was also tested with standard evaluations using cardiopulmonary treadmill exercises.